


A drink between friends

by dreamsheartstory



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 19:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3423296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsheartstory/pseuds/dreamsheartstory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone keeps confessing their feelings for other people to Emma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Austeniana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Austeniana/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina invites Emma over for a drink and to talk about Henry, and ends up admitting to feelings she thought would never be voiced.

"So what gives? In all these years you've never invited me over just to talk about Henry."

"We haven't had the easiest of... friendships," Regina paused.  "I hesitate to even call it that, but I could use a friend. It seems I've become rather adept at pushing people away, and yet, for some unknown reason you keep coming back. I could use someone to talk with."

"We do have a son," Emma shrugged and took a sip of the whisky Regina had handed her, not wanting to push too hard in case Regina had second thoughts.

"This is true, despite that, you and I have never been friendly." She held up a hand to stop Emma interrupting. "and it's mostly been my doing."

Emma looked over to where Regina sat, glancing her over. "did you start drinking before I came over."

"Possibly," Regina smoothed out her trousers to hide the trembling in her hands. "as I said, I'm not accustomed to having friends,” she shrugged and finished her glass, moving to refill it while she waited for Emma to find something to fill the silence with. Some inane chatter. Normally it would have irritated her, but she didn't know if she had the nerve to just sit down and talk with Emma. It was a proposal she couldn't quite believe she had made. 

Robin had been gone for months and Storybrook and Regina was bent on getting over everything that had happened. She was even starting to develop feelings for someone new, but it was complicated. Incredibly complicated. Regina sighed and sat back down. She had done the right thing, which meant she was miserable, again, but maybe she didn't have to stay that way.

Emma was talking about something Henry was doing for school, but she only half listened, nodding and smiling appropriately. After a time she refilled Emma’s glass and the other woman's rambling turned to Killian. Regina sighed slightly, not really wanting to hear about the pirate, or talk about romance, but at least the conversation hadn't died. 

She couldn't imagine what she would say if Emma asked her how things were going for her. One love dead, another with his memories wiped clean. The whole thought was ridiculous. Regina took another sip of her drink and wondered if she could pour herself another without Emma commenting. Tipping her head back she finished her drink. 

"Regina?"

"Hmmm?" she looked over at Emma, realizing she hadn't been paying attention at all. 

"I asked how you've been doing since..." she let the thought trail off. There was no need to bring up names, lately there was only one topic that made Emma look that guilty.

"I've managed. I." Regina paused, steeling herself and gathering the nerve to continue even though she wasn't quite sure what she would say next. The thoughts on the tip of her tongue were ones she had barely admitted to herself. "I think I'm starting to move on."

Emma raised an eyebrow suspiciously, she hadn't expected Regina to answer her, not honestly, and not quite like this. What had grown into a rough friendship was still that, rough. 

“There is someone,” Regina took another sip of her whiskey trying to stifle the panic she could feel welling up. She glanced at her glass trying to remember how much she had had. There was no way she would be admitting these thoughts sober.

"You're seeing someone?"

"Well, not exactly, but there is someone I’ve been thinking about. I'm not entirely sure it matters however given the situation." Regina shrugged, trying to play it off, hoping Emma would change the subject. Even talking about Killian would be better than this.

"Of course it matters! You deserve happiness Regina." Emma gestured wildly, a smile breaking into her face.

"You really do believe that, don't you? After all that I've done." Regina smiled, shaking her head. Emma was someone that would never cease to amaze her. There was something in the tenacity with which she chased after her fool hardy beliefs. If she were going to have a friend in this town there could have been far less annoying people she could have chosen, though it was appropriate that she was at least friendly with her son’s other mother.

Emma set her glass down and leaned forward, “We’ve both changed a lot over the last few years. We are hardly the people we were when Henry brought me up here from Boston.” She smiled trying to ease some of the tension she could feel rolling off Regina. “Who is he?”

“I don’t know why I even brought it up, I think they’re seeing someone anyway.” Regina stood up, busying herself with filling her and Emma’s glasses again, her hand heavy.

“You invited me over, offered me a drink, let me be your friend and listen.”

Regina sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose which she could already feel going slightly numb. “It’s quite complicated.”

“Yes, you being the formerly Evil Queen makes a lot of things complicated, but it’s amazing what the people in this town will look past.”

“It’s not that, though thank you for bringing up yet another obstacle I’ll need to overcome.”

“Are you at least going to give me a hint?”

Regina tipped her head back and finished the glass she had just poured in one swallow.

“That bad?”

“I just need you to find out if she’s dating anyone,” Regina spat out hurriedly.

Emma’s eyes went wide but she stayed silent as she took a rather large drink of her whiskey, which caused her to start coughing. She doubled over barely managing to set her drink down without spilling it. After a couple moments she sat back up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Sorry,” she paused uncertain. “So are you going to tell me who? Or am I going to need to put my detective skills to use?”

Regina turned and leaned against the table, letting out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. The words that came out of her mouth next would never have been allowed if she had been sober and Regina knew it, “Ruby. Ruby Lucas. Can you find out if she's single?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby has a confession of her own

Ruby drummed her fingers along the edge of her glass as she glanced around The Rabbit Hole. Emma was late. She wondered idly if her invitation had sounded more like a date and less like girls night out, when she had asked Emma for a drink earlier that day she had definitely meant the latter. She tucked one of legs up under her and leaned her elbows on the table, fixing her gaze on the whiskey. Sighing she tipped back the drink and signaled the bartender for another round. Ruby wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about what she had asked Emma out to talk about but she couldn't get the thought out of her head.

Nearly forty-five minutes and three whiskeys later the blonde pushed her way into the bar. It was starting to fill up and Ruby was having to fend off the booth she had been trying to save them. The music was too loud, but it was the only bar worth going to in town. Dingy and dirty as it was, there was something about it that made it the perfect place for a night out with friends.

“Emma!” Ruby threw her arms wide breaking into a smile.

“You’re drunk.” Emma slid into the booth opposite Ruby, flagging over the bartender as she did. She still felt hungover from the night before at Regina’s. And mentally exhausted too. 

Ruby shrugged, “And you’re late, and hungover.”

“Right on both accounts. Nothing gets past you.” Emma ordered a drink and turned back to her friend.

“What disaster was it this time?” Ruby joked.

“Regina needed a friend. We talked about Henry.”

Ruby steadied her hands on the table. Lately the mayor had been distant when she had come in for her morning coffee. The stretched silence between them hurt. She felt a twist of jealousy in her stomach, wishing she had been the friend Regina had called.  Just as things had been looking up and Regina had seemed happy it had all been taken from her. She didn’t want to see the sad, pained look in her eyes anymore. Over their years their friendship had grown, and for Ruby had grown into more than just that. She covered a sigh with a sip of whisky.

“Oh, I know that look. Spill.”

There was a moment where Ruby almost let Regina’s name tumble from her lips. It would be so easy to admit and come clean. Maybe then she could get over the ridiculous infatuation, but there was a part of her that didn’t want to get past it. She didn’t want to be over Regina. She just wanted Regina, even if that would never be a possibility.

Ruby laughed and shook her head, “Oh, no. It’s nothing like that. Honest.”

“Come on, you know, I, of all people, am not going to judge you.”

“And what makes you think, I think you’re going to judge me?”

“Because you have that look on your face that you get when you have a crush on someone and you won’t tell me who.”

“I do not.”

Emma raised an eyebrow skeptically and took a sip of her drink. “If you say so, but remember. I know when people are lying.”

“Regina,” Ruby mumbled into her glass, defeated.

“What was that?” Emma cocked her head to one side as if she hadn’t just heard the name of the woman responsible for her pounding headache. “I couldn’t quite hear you.” It was all she could do to keep from laughing at this point.

Ruby turned red, “Regina Mills, I have a crush on Regina.” She said it too loud, but the rest of the bar was louder. “You can’t say anything.”

Emma’s eyes went wide and she had to set her drink down. It had been too easy to goad Ruby into divulging her crush. She fought to keep her expression neutral.

“You think I’m crazy having a crush on her, don’t you?” Ruby’s face fell slightly.

“No!” Emma waved her hands trying to erase the unease she could feel settling around her friend. She took a large sip of her drink to buy time. These two would be the death of her. “It’s just-“ Emma pursed her lips. If she said anything it would be a breach of Regina’s trust just as she had earned it. She didn’t want to give Regina a reason to pull back. Ruby had been one of Emma's first friends in Storybrooke and she didn't want to leave her doubting that friendship either. 

Emma set her glass down and reached out for Ruby's hand, "I think it's great. You haven't dated anyone since Victor." The idea of Ruby falling for Regina didn’t surprise her, the girl had always had an open heart and anyone who was brave enough to be with her would be lucky. Regina deserved that kind of luck.

"I feel like there's something you aren't saying.” Ruby swirled her drink with her free hand.

Averting her eyes Emma tried to think of an excuse, anything that Ruby would believe without giving Regina away. It would be so much easier if they both weren’t swearing her to secrecy. They were both so afraid that the other would reject them and yet they were both fixated on the other. “Why don’t you just tell her?”

Ruby’s jaw dropped open. It’s not like she hadn’t considered the possibility, but the thought of trying to get the words out in the right order to tell Regina what she’d been feeling for most of her years in Storybrooke, that thought terrified her.

Emma knocked back her drink. She had a feeling when this was all over she would need to detox.


End file.
